If you read self-help guides or finance books or anything with the goal of improving yourself or your situation in some way, the best advice is often the stuff you already know.What the best authors and experts are able to do is simply make the information more actionable in the way it is presented.They make it understandable and digestible. When youre done with it, not only do you feel like you can achieve your goal, you feel like you must work toward it, and now!I bring this up today because it relates closer to fantasy hoops than you might realize. For all the tweets, emails and texts I receive each day about trade proposals and waiver-wire pickups -- yes, you should pick up Jrue Holiday if hes available in your league -- all of it pales in comparison to the most important path to success in fantasy hoops, and that is this:Optimize your roster each week based on the NBA schedule and the amount of games each team plays.For many of you, this may not seem like big news. In fact, you might already know it, like I mentioned above. And if youre already a pro at this, well, then keep being a pro. But this is something that far too often goes overlooked, and it shouldnt.The thing is, fantasy basketball is unlike baseball and football in that the schedule has a different amount of games for each team every week. There can be two, three, four or even one or five games in a given week. This differs from football, where there is only one, and baseball, where theres a game basically every night, or at worst, six games in a seven-day span.Some might look at this as a flaw of fantasy hoops, but the best fantasy owners view it as a giant opportunity. If you pay attention to the schedule each week and adjust your roster to maximize the amount of games played, you can out-game your opponent and be more successful on a consistent basis.Now, this doesnt work for every style of play. Leagues that use averages instead of totals and roto leagues that limit the amount of games played in the course of the season do not apply to this principle as much, for example. In those leagues, quality matters more than quantity, and its more important to make every game count with the best players you have.For most head-to-head leagues, though, particularly those where you can only set your roster once per week, optimizing your roster with players who are scheduled to play a lot of games is the most important thing you can do to win.I like to create a roster with two to three spots that can continually be streamed each week, so if my roster size is 15, that means having 12-13 players I intend to keep for as long as possible. The remaining spots are used to add players that are scheduled to play on whatever days I need to fill on a given week.So if you have DeMarcus Cousins and Sacramento is only playing two games this week, maybe youd pick up Bostons Amir Johnson on a four-game week to help fill that center spot on the days Cousins is out.Keep in mind, thats only half of the task; you need to know which days to fill. If Cousins only plays on Tuesday and Thursday, then you want to make sure that anyone you pick up to help out at the center spot plays on the days when Cousins doesnt. For example, if Johnson plays four games and two of them are on the same days Cousins plays, youre only gaining two games by picking up Johnson. But if Johnson plays on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, youre filling four days that would otherwise be unoccupied at the center spot.Go out there and be proactive each week. Look at the NBA schedule, see how many games each team plays and use that information to determine which players to stream into your lineup.Theres no better trick to winning in fantasy basketball than this one, and as easy as it might sound, few people take advantage of it as much as they should.To help you on your way, weve laid out the weekly NBA schedule grid for the 2016-17 season, available here as a downloadable PDF cheat sheet. Be sure to refer to it each week throughout the season to help you determine which players to avoid and which to pick up on your way to out-gaming the opposition. Cheap Billy Williams Jersey . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. 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Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. SEATTLE -- In the midst of Washingtons John Ross returning after 20 months away from football and reminding everyone just how fast he is on the field, the unthinkable happened.Huskies quarterback Jake Browning actually managed to overthrow Ross when the speedster was open sprinting down the sideline.Ive got to put more air under it, Browning said with a grin.The return of Ross proved the biggest highlight for No. 14 Washington coming out of its 48-13 win over Rutgers to open the season. While the Pac-12 took its collective lumps on the opening weekend, the Huskies appeared worthy of their preseason billing, even if their first true test of whether they are a top 15 program wont come for a few more weeks. They play Idaho on Saturday.Ross was the star, playing for the first time since suffering a major knee injury during spring practice in 2015. Ross had five catches for 90 yards, with 88 of those yards coming on two long touchdown catches, and he returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. It was his fifth touchdown of 90 yards or more in 27 career games at Washington.I figured they would kick it to me because I didnt do nothing last year. I havent really proved anything, Ross said. Just to see they did I got very excited.Ross immediately provided a dynamic that was missing from Washingtons offense a year ago when the Huskies struggled to push the ball downfield in the passing game. In 13 games last season, Washington had five passing touchdowns of 30 or more yards.They had three touchdown passes of 30 or more yards in the opener.It cant just be the John Ross show, Washington coach Chris Petersen said. People will figure out how to slow that down fast. But I think its really nice to come out of the gate and make some plays there so people have to pay attention to that closely.Speed was never the queestion about Ross prior to his injury.dddddddddddd The question was what would be the best position to play him. His exceptional speed made him a threat as a wide receiver, but it also made him effective as a defensive back. With the injuries Washington suffered in its secondary during the 2014 season, Ross split his time between offense and defense.The last time he was on the field in a game setting prior to Saturday -- January 2015 in the Cactus Bowl -- Ross started at cornerback, meaning the growth potential at wide receiver is significant. Since suffering his knee injury, Ross has focused solely on being a wide receiver, but it takes game opportunities to really assess where the improvement needs to be.I feel better than I have ever, Ross said. I feel bigger. I feel faster. Just really thankful Im able to do it again.Petersen understands there is more development needed with Ross, pointing out not just the lack of game reps but the limited practice reps for Ross as a wide receiver. His speed will always separate Ross and be his biggest strength, but now its learning the intricacies of the position that will really allow him to stand out.I dont want to say behind, but I still think he has a lot more to him, Petersen said on Monday. I mean, just in terms of practice reps. He hasnt had a ton of practice reps. I maybe even think about that more than the game reps. Some of these guys have had a lot. As we all know, to build true skill takes hours and years of these reps over and over. He hasnt really had that, with us, at least.So its been nice to watch him this fall progress with some detailed, route-running stuff.---AP college football site: http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '